On the final day of April Nick went to the island and shuddered as he felt the dense ambient mana in the islands atmosphere. It was like a heavy dome of pure mana sitting over the island and just being in it filled him with energy and a false sense of omnipotence. 'This might cause some problems after Grindelwald sets off his ritual.' Nick thought with a frown. He could tell that this false sense of power came from the sort of high that came from going from a low ambient mana environment to a dense mana environment.-
The island was absolutely still at the moment as only the sound of the wind rustling plants and ocean crashing against the sides of the island were audible. This was because nearly every animal on the island was in a state of hibernation as their bodies changed from the mana. It would have taken far longer for the concentration of mana to reach this level had it not been for the fact that the island sat over a leyline nexus. This allowed the runestones to have an already powerful source of mana to draw from nearby lessoning the draw from the rest of the world.-
Nick walked into the manor and marveled at the power he felt flowing through it's walls towards the keystone at it's center. The keystone itself was surrounded by a glowing cosmos of raw mana that slowly swirled around it like a galaxy. Walking into the greenhouse with Helena who hadn't been to the island since before he set up the runestones He checked the time "Tempus!" he spoke calmly with a swish of his wand. '8:53 , I still have roughly two more hours before the ritual begins , I should meditate.' Nick thought as he set an alarm for ten thirty to stop him from missing the optimal starting time.-
He doubted he could have missed the start of the annual phenomena anyways since the massive upsurge of mana would hit him like a truck thanks to his senses. Still Nick would rather avoid that and turn them off before that happened. Helena was far too busy trying to figure out what was going on with this crazy high mana concentration to bother Nick while he meditated in the center of the complex ritual circle. "BRRRRR!" soon Nicks wand vibrated as the alarm went off and Nick brought him mind back to reality and opened his eyes.-
Already signs of the upsurge were manifesting that's to the nearly visible mana in the air that was growing restless and excited. Nick stood up from the ground and went into the realm for a moment to get changed and leave his wand , rings and animal product clothes behind while he put on a loose white cotton robe that went down to his ankles. The rules for this ritual were very clear that other than the wizard themselves and the sacrifices absolutely nothing animal based was to be present in the circle.-
Nick left the realm after five minute and quickly set each of his sacrifices in their designated spaces before leaving his ring with his realm outside the circle. "Hiss!" Helena sucked in a breath as she observed each of the sacrifices in shock. She very likely realized the rarity and power of these things and was horrified that he was using them like this. Nick noticed her confusion at the daedra heart but he wasn't going to explain that at all. Not that he really could to begin with without revealing the system to her.-
That was certainly not something that he was ever going to expose to anyone for as long as he lived. Helena didn't get any time to question him about where he got the odd heart from though before Nick shut off his magical senses as the mana in the air receded as a precursor to the tsunami of mana coming. Nick waited with the ritual circle primed for action at the slightest trigger for five dreadful minutes before the ground shook and a literal geyser of mana blasted up from the nexus bellow the island.-
The circle immediately sprang into action and the first sacrifice turned into dust and vanished , the Lethifold gem. That was the last thing about the ritual Nick remembered as he lost consciousness per the rituals power. While Nick was out cold great changes took place within the circle as a vast quantity of mana was pushed into his body. This mana didn't just go into his body though as the mana within his body already was expelled and dispersed into the atmosphere. This was why this ritual was called the ritual of nature. The wizards or witch undergoing it had their body and mana core refined by the world itself.